Person of the Year is not supposed to be a moral judgment, only a statement of impact. It is, however, true that Time has caved on this more than once in recent years, sometimes to note a lesser but more palatable candidate, and sometimes just to do something stupid (anyone else remember the "You" issue?)

I wonder if Time contacts their Person of the Year candidates before running these issues... it seems to me that if I were Sandra Fluke and much of my year was spent being called really, really horrible things all over the internet, I wouldn't want to start the cycle all over again. But maybe she's braver than I.

Fluke, of course, is the condom rights advocate turned Georgetown Law School martyr who testified before Congress about the hardships encountered by young female law school students who couldn't afford to pay for their own birth control pills. Rush Limbaugh ripped her, prompting faux outcry from the left, all the way up to President Obama, who seized on the incident as proof that the right was waging some sort of war on women, as opposed to a battle against pathetic dependency on government. Obama called her personally, then used her as a campaign surrogate.

Millennium:Person of the Year is not supposed to be a moral judgment, only a statement of impact. It is, however, true that Time has caved on this more than once in recent years, sometimes to note a lesser but more palatable candidate, and sometimes just to do something stupid (anyone else remember the "You" issue?)

The Weeners by one 'MELVIN_UDALL' claims this was a Leftist set-up planned before Fluke entered post-secondary, one that includes her choice of fiance. The implication never occurs to Tea-dullards that, as Rush was a large (heh...) part of pushing her into the national spotlight he too was either in on the plot or a malleable stooge.

neenerist:The Weeners by one 'MELVIN_UDALL' claims this was a Leftist set-up planned before Fluke entered post-secondary, one that includes her choice of fiance. The implication never occurs to Tea-dullards that, as Rush was a large (heh...) part of pushing her into the national spotlight he too was either in on the plot or a malleable stooge.

Wolverines!

Oh god. Melvin Udall? That's guy's a famous troll from way back in the various LiveJournal Politics forums inception.

Choosing someone who was smeared for testifying before Congress? Could do worse, but could do better.

And by standing up to the repubes and their talking heads, she guaranteed a majority of women would vote for Obama. One of the key individuals in getting the president re-elected. No wonder the repubes hate her.

Bah. Everyone knows Andrew Breitbart deserves Person of the Year. The man martyred himself this year, sacrificing his health and even life to fight the libs who are destroying Baby Jesus' Supply Side America. Instead we get a floozy slut who pops birth control pills like Pez.

And don't start in with the cocaine cracks. He needed it and was prescribed it to treat a medical condition. The man was just too nice and needed heavy doses of Powdered Douchebag to balance him out.

I'm not clicking on a Breitbart link, but I'm sure she's being called a slut/whore who only wants free contraception because she can't keep her legs closed. Conservatives will never understand why people feel sickened and want nothing to do with them when they spew their hatred.

ManRay:The whole Fluke thing is the greatest troll ever pulled on the Republicans, and it is still paying off.

That there is an investment that is going to be giving a solid return for decades.

The Democrats just couldn't line up the Fundamentalists in just the right way to make it look like they were trying to deny rights to half of the voting populace. They tried with the anti-abortion movement but even then at its most radical they managed to screw it up; it didn't directly affect potential voters on a day-to-day basis like birth control does.

But Sandra Fluke.....that was the football the GOP willingly carried into their own end zone, and by Rush Limbaugh no less. Their brief victory dance was just delicious to watch. I realized even way back then that this was a story that had legs and as everyone was emitting a gasp I had a smile you couldn't get off my face. It was the beginning of the Great GOP Detonation of 2012.

shastacola:Jorn the Younger: Some of the comments on that article are sickening

I'm not clicking on a Breitbart link, but I'm sure she's being called a slut/whore who only wants free contraception because she can't keep her legs closed. Conservatives will never understand why people feel sickened and want nothing to do with them when they spew their hatred.

The part of that whole mess that gave me the most dark humor was Limbaugh's implication that the readson Fluke needs the taxpayers to pay for her birth control is that she's a massive slut who can't afford all the pills she has to use on her own.

So either Limbaugh doesn't know how birth control pills work, or (more likely) he's playing on the fact that the dumbasses who listen to his show don't.

Millennium:Person of the Year is not supposed to be a moral judgment, only a statement of impact. It is, however, true that Time has caved on this more than once in recent years, sometimes to note a lesser but more palatable candidate, and sometimes just to do something stupid (anyone else remember the "You" issue?)

Skarekrough:ManRay: The whole Fluke thing is the greatest troll ever pulled on the Republicans, and it is still paying off.

That there is an investment that is going to be giving a solid return for decades.

The Democrats just couldn't line up the Fundamentalists in just the right way to make it look like they were trying to deny rights to half of the voting populace. They tried with the anti-abortion movement but even then at its most radical they managed to screw it up; it didn't directly affect potential voters on a day-to-day basis like birth control does.

But Sandra Fluke.....that was the football the GOP willingly carried into their own end zone, and by Rush Limbaugh no less. Their brief victory dance was just delicious to watch. I realized even way back then that this was a story that had legs and as everyone was emitting a gasp I had a smile you couldn't get off my face. It was the beginning of the Great GOP Detonation of 2012.

Yep. In the months following this, she got Republican leaders and actual lawmakers to publicly admit they don't know how birth control pills or even female anatomy works and even got candidates addressing the lighter side of rape, costing them 2 races.

Forgive the pun, but this was the Democrats' Trojan Horse to draw out fundies and expose their pig-ignorance to the rest of the electorate.

Millennium:Person of the Year is not supposed to be a moral judgment, only a statement of impact. It is, however, true that Time has caved on this more than once in recent years, sometimes to note a lesser but more palatable candidate, and sometimes just to do something stupid (anyone else remember the "You" issue?)

Agree with Fluke or not, she definitely gets points for impact.

Yeah, Time wanted Osama bin Laden for 2001's Man of the Year, but they played it safe and went with (I think) Rudy Giuliani.

stoli n coke:Skarekrough: ManRay: The whole Fluke thing is the greatest troll ever pulled on the Republicans, and it is still paying off.

That there is an investment that is going to be giving a solid return for decades.

The Democrats just couldn't line up the Fundamentalists in just the right way to make it look like they were trying to deny rights to half of the voting populace. They tried with the anti-abortion movement but even then at its most radical they managed to screw it up; it didn't directly affect potential voters on a day-to-day basis like birth control does.

But Sandra Fluke.....that was the football the GOP willingly carried into their own end zone, and by Rush Limbaugh no less. Their brief victory dance was just delicious to watch. I realized even way back then that this was a story that had legs and as everyone was emitting a gasp I had a smile you couldn't get off my face. It was the beginning of the Great GOP Detonation of 2012.

Yep. In the months following this, she got Republican leaders and actual lawmakers to publicly admit they don't know how birth control pills or even female anatomy works and even got candidates addressing the lighter side of rape, costing them 2 races.

Forgive the pun, but this was the Democrats' Trojan Horse to draw out fundies and expose their pig-ignorance to the rest of the electorate.

Nope, it was just a girl who the GOP turned into a cause because they hate women, and couldn't stop putting their foot in their mouth.

Obama then masterfully used a bit of rope a dope to control the narrative for the entire election, by just repeating what the GOP was saying. He hardly even had to campaign, they literately did all the work for him.

The whole thing was just so ridiculous. Fluke was not asking for FREE/TAX-PAYER SUBSIDIZED birth control. She was asking that birth control be COVERED BY THE INSURANCE COMPANIES like boner pills are. Women would still have to pay a co-payment on the BC pills just like regular perscriptions and that's fine, they have no problem doing that.

Why does the GOP have this need to control women's sexuality? Are they scared of it?

TacoBeelzebub:The whole thing was just so ridiculous. Fluke was not asking for FREE/TAX-PAYER SUBSIDIZED birth control. She was asking that birth control be COVERED BY THE INSURANCE COMPANIES like boner pills are. Women would still have to pay a co-payment on the BC pills just like regular perscriptions and that's fine, they have no problem doing that.

Why does the GOP have this need to control women's sexuality? Are they scared of it?